£22billion black hole in NHS budget could force hospitals across the UK to SHUT DOWN
A new report says the NHS will struggle to meet its target saving of £22billion by 2020
HOSPITALS could be forced to close as the NHS deals with a £22billion black hole, a report warned last night.
Patients are also facing longer waiting times or rationing of vital treatment to help solve the cash crisis.
And some services could be axed altogether to balance the books, said respected think-tank the Nuffield Trust.
Its Feeling The Crunch report said the NHS will struggle to meet its target of saving £22billion by 2020.
It said without extra cash or reforms, chiefs face “unpalatable” decisions to balance the books.
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The report said that includes extending waiting times for treatment or raising treatment eligibility thresholds.
It added it could mean “cutting some services altogether, or closing whole sites or hospitals”.
And even if the NHS made savings of two per cent a year, the funding gap would still be £6billion by 2020-21.
The trust said savings of up to four per cent are needed in the coming years, a level that has “never been achieved to date” over a sustained period.
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Diane Abbott warned we could see a rationing of health services and said patients would pay the price.
But the Department of Health slammed the report as pure speculation and insisted there were “no plans to arbitrarily close services”.